Fiery crash in Escondido sends 5 to hospital

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ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- Police say a fiery crash in Escondido sent five people to the hospital and left one person with life-threatening injuries.

According to police, the crash happened just before 4 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Harding St. and Lincoln Ave. involving a Ford Ranger and Volkswagen.

The Ford Ranger was occupied by three siblings. The driver was an 18-year-old male transporting his 17-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister.

The Volkswagen was occupied by a 19-year-old male driver and a 20-year-old female passenger.

That 20-year-old female has been identified by family members as Angelique Arenas. Police say she suffered the worst injuries.

"She’s making progress every day and we just really want to keep it positive for her and keep everybody in positive spirits and prayers for her," said Arenas' sister, Pat Arenas.

Police say Arenas and the other passengers were pulled from the cars just moments before they caught fire.

Arenas’ family believes if it wasn’t for a man in the right place at the right time things could have been much worse. The family has not had a chance to meet that good Samaritan, but learned who he was through nurses at the hospital.

"We got to find out his name and we saw picture of him but we would love for him to reach out to us if he could because he would like to thank him personally," said Arenas.

Police are still investigating the crash and are asking witnesses to contact Officer Tyler Songer with the traffic division at 760-839-4454 with any information.